Jane Gray

In addition to skills in stacking, sowing, herding, and sheep shearing, a condition of employment was the hind's provision of a "bondager", a female. Generally, a bondager was his wife, sister, or daughter. If necessary a female had to be hired by the hind himself.



Bondagers found employment in the fields or in the barn. They were responsible for the upkeep of the cottage. They had to pick the corn in the harvest. Often they were required to spin wool for the farmer's wife. Women were paid almost 8 pence a day in the winter, 10 pence in the summer. They would receive a shilling a day for twenty days during the harvest.



The hinds received approximately £4 a year in money, a share of the corn,(which could be sold in the market town), and the "keep" of a cow. If the hind was unable to buy a cow, the farmer provided one during the man's term of service. It was called a "put on" cow.



The hind's wages also included 18 weighed bags of potatoes. Each hind had to raise some chickens at his cottage for the farmer. He also had his own little garden plot.



To the head of a family, his growing up sons and daughters represented a considerable income in the future. A few extra shillings a week could be added by flitting to another farm. It was possible for a family to earn up to £50 a year.



Thus it was, in 1826, John Cowey sought out a bondager. Jane Gray was born on the Chillingham estate in 1800. The daughter of Robert Gray, from Newtown, and Mary Mather, from Chillingham, she eventually moved with her family to the farming estate at East Lilburn.



Eglingham, East Lilburn, Chillingham, Ilderton, and Wooler are all located within a few km of each other in the Border region. The River Tweed separated England from Scotland. The main road from Alnwick, in the south, ran through Morpeth, Eglingham, Ilderton, and Wooler, in the north, and then on to Berwick-upon-Tweed on the coast.



It was probable that John Cowey met Jane Gray at the March hirings in either Morpeth or Wooler. Because they were married in St. Maurice Church in Eglingham, we can assume that John worked nearby because it was necessary to have banns called at church, with the condition that one of the parties lived in the area. The banns were read on three consecutive Sundays. John and Jane's banns were published on Sundays March 5, March 12, and March 19, 1826. Their marriage took place in May of 1826. Witnesses were Jane's brother Mark, and sisters Eleanor and Elizabeth Gray.



Their first son James, born in 1827, was probably born at Eglingham; however, by 1829 they would have flitted north to the Norham area. Their second son, Robert Semple, we believe was born in Loanend, an estate on the banks of the River Tweed. John Campbell was born in October 1833, probably in this same area.



Some time between May 1834 and May 1836, John and Jane flitted to Ilderton, a village south of Wooler that was virtually one large farming estate. They migrated to this estate, perhaps to obtain a better job, a better cottage, and possibly a cheaper education for their children.